


Patchwork

by huashan



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, As it should be, Ballet, M/M, Slow Burn, everyone loves yixing, ex ballet dancer yixing has lost his way, ksoo is a jack of all trades and a single dad, yixing has a past with old rich men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-20 18:15:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21061040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huashan/pseuds/huashan
Summary: Yixing would have never expected to end up alone in the middle of the South Korean countryside. All his belongings are squeezed in a backpack and a suitcase, his cat is moaning and crying from her carrier. He’s fidgeting nervously with the letter in his pocket, the only proof that an old friend has left him a property in this small town in the middle of nowhere.





	Patchwork

Yixing would have never expected to end up alone in the middle of the South Korean countryside. All his belongings are squeezed in a backpack and a suitcase, his cat is moaning and crying from her carrier. He’s fidgeting nervously with the letter in his pocket, the only proof that an old friend has left him a property in this small town in the middle of nowhere.

For most of his life, Yixing has lived in cities, from his childhood in the centre of Changsha to some of the most populated capitals of Europe and then Saint Petersburg, up until three days ago. None of those places have prepared him for the view of vast, cultivated fields welcoming him just outside of the most deserted train station he’s ever been in.

The cat in the carrier meows loudly, Yixing responds with a sigh. He wonders what might be going on in her head, if it’s any similar to the confused buzzing that has been filling Yixing’s own brain since he received that phone call from Seoul. He still remembers clearly the hoarse voice of the stranger on the phone informing him that Huang Lei, an old flame from his days in Paris, had left something for him in his will. He had known about Huang Lei’s physical conditions, but the news came as a surprise anyways. No one ever expects someone to leave so suddenly, and even less to leave something important like a house to someone that they haven't seen in years.

The steps he takes through the empty parking lot in front of the station feel heavy. There's so little around him; he feels lost in such a free, open space. Nothing is moving, the only motions Yixing's eyes catch are created by the smoldering late July weather and his slightly dehydrated system, making the lines at the horizon boil and sway. Yixing squints and powers through the last meters of the patch of concrete to reach the road. The air moves just lightly, a blow of breeze just fresh enough to make Yixing realize how damp his nape is. In an attempt to fix his sweating issue, he ties the longest strands of his wavy hair in a low ponytail; all in all, it makes him feel less hot, but the relief turns out to be awfully shortlived.

The person on the phone had assured him they would have provided him a guide of sorts, someone to pick him up as he arrived and to show him the house. The confusion starts to settle, letting the twinge of concern, always inhabiting his mind, re-emerge. The absence of this person he is supposed to depend on completely, at least for the first days of this visit, sends him off on the most worrying of conspiracies, for a moment he starts thinking this might be all one of Minseok's elaborate pranks. Why would Lei even have a house here, in the middle of nowhere?

Luckily, his scared spiralling is cut short by the gurgle of an engine. Yixing jumps, turns his head quickly from left to right until he catches the silhouette of a green pick up truck travelling towards him. It's surprising how loud it is, considering how far up the road it is. The closer it gets, the more Yixing starts wondering whether or not he should be happy if the vehicle turns out to be his promised ride. It looks and sounds like a few pieces of metal held together by fishing line, the kind of vehicle that leaves behind the smell of beer and body odour.

Yixing and his cat stare silently as the truck pulls up on the side of the road. The driver has an arm resting out of the window, he raises it to show Yixing his palm as a wordless greeting,Yixing tilts his head and peers inside the vehicle, expecting to see white hair and hoping for at least a warm smile. What he gets instead is pitch black hair and a deep frown. The man's eyes are intense enough to make Yixing swallow and almost cave to the temptation of turning on his heels and run back to Seoul.

"Are you Mr. Zhang Yixing?" the pronunciation is a bit awkward, but Yixing is more than used to hearing his name twisted by every kind of accent. What makes him pause is the tone of the man's voice, the gap between his fierce expression and his polite questioning leaves him stumped for a few seconds.

"Y-Yes, are you my ride?" Yixing straightens up and stumbles back as the man opens the car door and steps out.

He nods and slurs out a quiet _ yeah _ while he reaches for Yixing's suitcase and hauls it into the back of the truck. "I'm Do Kyungsoo” he adds, almost sounding like an afterthought and doesn’t say anything else after it. 

Yixing feels slightly uncomfortable standing around while Mr. Do takes care of everything, he thinks he should try to say something, try to melt this tense atmosphere, but he isn’t sure what would be appropriate. The fierce aura surrounding Mr. Do makes it kind of hard to strike up a casual conversation "Do you have anything else to load in the back?"

"No, thank you," he smiles and bows his head lightly.

"Ok, then. Hop in," Mr. Do pats the pick up and points at the side of the passenger seat. Yixing silently follows the instruction and pulls the handle of the door, then he pulls again and then once more, progressively putting more force into it. Yixing is ready to give up when the door opens up and behind it there's the driver lying on the passenger seat with his arm extended forward. "Sorry," he smiles for the first time since Yixing's met him, albeit tentatively. "It doesn't open from the outside anymore." The chuckle that follows teeters between sounding strained and embarrassed.

Yixing smiles at him and lowers his head again to thank him. The inside of the truck doesn't emanate the scent of a pub after eleven pm like he had expected. On the contrary, it doesn't smell like much at all, much to Yixing’s surprise. The seat is also a lot more comfortable than the train seat he’d perched uncomfortably on for almost three hours. He poses his backpack between his feet and keeps the carrier in his lap. As soon as he's adjusted himself, the engine is kicked off again and his chaperone clears his throat to ask a quick "Ready?"

"Yes, thank you."

The noise of the engine is enough to fill the silence that follows Yixing's words. He turns his head to look out of the window. The scenery rushes past him too quickly to see much, but he keeps his eyes on the flashes of fields crammed with large fruit trees, small vineyards and cows, horses and sheep anyway. He relaxes in the seat, his head feels heavy as it hits the headrest. Some tightness is building up in his temples, the first small sign of an upcoming headache.

"For the first few nights you should keep your cat inside," Mr. Do speaks up again as he darts his eyes between the cat carrier and the road and then land on Yixing's face after he doesn’t respond. Mr. Do repeats himself as soon as their eyes meet. "Your cat, you should keep it inside at night, a lot of animals roam the area when people go to sleep." He speaks in short, chopped sentences, a huge help for Yixing's stumbling Korean comprehension.

"Oh, I will, thank you," Yixing says seriously. He hadn't really considered letting her outside on her own, not for the first few days at least. She's been living in an apartment on the sixth floor since he’d gotten her from an old Russian ballet enthusiast. Yixing still remembers the silk, baby blue bow around her neck and how soft and tiny her pink paws used to be. She's not exactly acquainted with any kind of real wilderness, unless a garden as big as the pots of green plants Yixing used to grow on his balcony qualified as such.

"You don't need to be so formal, you’ve thanked me after every sentence you’ve said," Mr. Do continues, Yixing wasn't expecting to hear him speak so much. He has no reason to complain though, the low tone of his voice is comforting; it eases Yixing back into the same relaxed state he had been in just moments before. The sound is full, deep and smooth. For a moment, Yixing thinks Mr. Do might have managed to cure his headache just by talking, but another sharp spike of pain hits him like a bolt from the blue soon after. His thoughts slow down once again. "I’m not too good with strangers, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“No, of course not!” Yixing’s quick to deny. Even though Mr. Do’s suspicions had mostly been right, if he hadn’t meant to come off as aloof and, frankly, a bit intimidating, then Yixing has nothing to complain about, he’s just glad he wasn’t the reason for all that glaring. “I’m not too good with strangers either.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one, then,” Mr. Do smiles. It’s slightly brighter than before, less controlled, and makes Yixing notice just how handsome he is. There’s such a cute gap between this Do Kyungsoo and the one that picked him up at the station. He’s glad to see him more at ease.

“We’re here, this is Mr. Huang’s property,” He pulls up in front of a large western style villa, it sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of all the old, small houses around it. Yixing cranes his neck as the man points to the house next to it “And the one over there is where I live.” he says, then puts both of his hands in his pockets and rummages messily inside them, his left fingers resurface with a bundle of keys “These are yours, welcome to Estate Yixing.” Yixing laughs at that, thinking that the man might be making a joke to put him at ease as he reaches past him to open the car door for him. Nothing could have prepared him to read the chinese characters on the tag affixed on the rough, muted yellow bricks of the fence,

“_ Estate Yixing _...” he reads it out loud in complete disbelief. This is a bit far, he hopes no other neighbour knows about it.

“If you need any help around the house you can ask for me… I work in the town most days though, but I’ll make some time for you if you need it.” The man has already put Yixing’s suitcase on the ground, he’s standing in front of his car door with his hands pushing into the pockets of his light jeans, even though most of the original colour is lost under the amount of green, brown and black staining it.

“I think I’ll need it,” Yixing smiles, “Thank you again, Mr. Do.”

“Just Kyungsoo is fine.” he makes a gesture with his hand as to dismiss Yixing’s strict politeness once more. With those last few words, he gets in his truck and waves goodbye as he speeds to the house he’s pointed at before, Yixing’s left alone again, the feeling of having lost all sense of direction is back, but with an entire layer dedicated to his own personal life. He can’t imagine why would he call an entire house with his name, he wonders with how many of his boyfriends he must have done it. Rich people are weird.

It takes him a while to find the right key to open the gate, even as the cat moaning and crying in the red carrier pressures him to be quick. As soon as the right key turns in the lock, one side of the wooden gate opens by itself, pulled by its own weight, Yixing grimances, half expecting the structure to snap, he’s quickly distracted from that thought to take in what the gate reveals.

The first thing that catches his attention is the house, it’s completely painted in white and there’s brilliant green ivy growing on its right side, it reaches up to the brick red roof and a few branches twirl to the front, enveloping the elaborate metal railing of the balcony. Yixing bends down to take his cat and finally walks inside, closes the gate and begins to follow the path of gravel that travels up to the dark, reddish brown wood of the front door. The green of the garden stretches all around the house, it’s beautiful, clearly someone must have been taking care of it constantly, the grass is cut evenly everywhere and gorgeous flowers are in full bloom in every corner, staining the scenery with every kind of bright, breathtaking colour. The green gives way to more gravel only in the patch under the other two small wooden buildings standing to the far left of the property, Yixing has no idea what they could be for, so he takes a mental note to go check them up later and just in case, he also thinks about asking Kyungsoo, but he tries to store it as a last resource, he knows so little about this kind of environment, he’s sure he’ll become a bother if he starts asking for help for every single doubt he gets.

Leading to the front door there are two steps and a small patio, Yixing sets the carrier down and opens its door, the white cat jumps out of it as soon as she hears the two clicks of the lock being open, Yixing gasps as she runs back onto the gravel and starts walking around, peering curiously into the green. He’s a bit concerned when he sees her step towards it , he almost walks down the stairs to get her, but she squats down and releases everything she must have been keeping, the small cover in the carrier has a few wet spots already, but she must have been dying to be outside and do everything without having to live with it near her. Once she’s done, she walks back to the path and starts looking around curiously, all it takes to make her run towards Yixing is the sound of the keys turning and the front door being pushed open, she’s the first one to step inside.

Yixing stands around uncomfortably, tapping his fingers on the handle of his trolley, it’s a lot to take in and he isn’t equipped with the means to deal with it. He ventures inside silently, passing the warm orange, angled couch and the coffee table in front of it, a completely furnished kitchen takes the space on his right and just a few steps ahead there’s a large fireplace, the image Yixing is staring at seems taken from a magazine and the warm afternoon light coming through the tall windows on his left make it seem even more of a dream. Yixing is stunned, doesn’t know what to think or say, something so beautiful and kept so preciously is being given to him for no reason, he’s afraid he won’t be able to care for it like Huang Lei would have wanted.

The cat meows loudly and looks up at him, Yixing, still in a daze, bends down and scratches her head “What are we going to do with all of this?” he asks, then moves quickly to get her some water and food.

The content of his suitcase and backpack doesn’t even begin to fill the wardrobe in the master bedroom, thinking about it, he should have probably settled for one of the two other smaller rooms, but the one he’s in is so beautiful that he couldn’t resist stepping inside. Everything is light and ethereal, long, white curtains and simple wooden furniture, the amount of dust gathered around concerns him a little bit, but he’s tired and his headache is steadily becoming worse, so he decides to ignore it, even as he lays down on the bed and through the ray of light coming from the half closed window, he’s forced to see small particles of dust raise from the comforter, he accepts his fate and decides to change the sheets before taking a short nap, it’s only three in the afternoon but he’s exhausted, he’ll feel better after resting for a bit.

He continues telling himself that he’ll get up and search for clean sheets, even after he closes his eyes, he repeats it like a mantra, until the daze of slumber slowly overtakes him and he’s asleep before he can realise it.

When he wakes up, his cat is clawing his thigh and his ears ring with the shrill sound of a doorbell. He rushes off the bed as he hears the sound one again, it takes him more than he would like to admit to realize how dark the house has become, the short little nap he had been envisioning must have become a full on five hours sleep, what further proves his suspicions is the words his neighbour greets him with,

“I brought you dinner!” he shouts from behind the gate, he raises his arm to show a brown bag, Yixing runs down the short path to the gate, the keys make loud clicking noises in his hands as they follow his movements. The mention of food makes his stomach growl, he hasn’t eaten anything since the sandwich he’s had in the train at lunchtime and now that his system is fully awake, it’s starting to demand to be fed.

“Thank you so much! You really didn’t have to,” he laughs lightly as he opens up the gate,

“My mother has been trying to get a glimpse of you since you’ve arrived, but she ended up being concerned because she hasn’t seen you step outside at all, so she’s sent me here to be nosy.” It’s the longest sentence he’s heard him say, he seems a lot more comfortable than he was when he came to pick him up and more lively, a bit more fresh too, he’s clearly taken a shower and this cleaned up air has Yixing’s eyes wandering over his features with a bit more interest, the streetlights aren’t particularly bright, but he’s never needed too much light to decide if he thinks someone is handsome.

“Ah, thank her for me, I wouldn’t have known what to eat if she hadn’t worried.” Yixing scratches the back of his head, this sounds exactly like something that his grandma would do, normally he wouldn’t be overjoyed knowing that someone has been staring for an entire day at the house he’s in, but this offers him a glimpse of that kind of motherly concern that he hasn’t felt in long time “I wanted to take a short nap, but I’ve only woken up now.”

“She’ll most likely come here tomorrow after I leave for work, I hope she won’t be too much disturb,” Kyungsoo seems apologetic as he hands him the bag and continues talking “I don’t think anything I’ll say will keep her away from here, I am really sorry…”

“No, don’t worry! If she hadn’t already decided to come, I would have visited her first thing tomorrow.” Yixing smiles, it’s weird, being in a place for only half a day but already feeling a little bit at home.

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo smiles at him and looks down, stalling silently, Yixing observes him, the pause is making him a bit nervous, he wonders if maybe he’s said anything weird “You know,” he pick up again “To be honest, you’ll probably have to look forward to a lot of visits, everyone around here is dying to know you.”

Yixing gulps, his smile is steadily turning into more of a forced grin “Really? How come?” he asks, guessing that it will have to do with old Lei’s physical need to share stories and anecdotes from his private life, it’s always been a trick of his to charm strangers and for as much as it embarrasses him in the context he’s in right now, he has to admit that it always proved more than effective.

“Well, a lot of people are curious, Mr. Huang used to talk a lot about you.”

“Oh, God…” Yixing covers his eyes, he’s so embarrassed, he knows what kind of things Huang Lei liked to say about him, he’s not sure he can face these people knowing that they most likely know many of the circumstances that have brought Yixing to move here as soon as he’s discovered this place’s existence.

Kyungsoo lets out a deep, hearty laugh his beautiful voice translates into laughter that sounds just as smooth and deep, Yixing can’t help thinking that it’s the complete opposite of his own goofy laugh. To be fair, Kyungsoo and him seem to have been shaped by entirely different molds under every aspect. Yixing’s thin hands can’t compete with Kyungsoo’s sturdy, callous fingers; Kyungsoo’s short, _ short _ coarse looking hair and Yixing’s almost shoulder length wavy strands. They don’t know each other enough to draw any conclusion, but Yixing’s sure that with time many more differences will show up.

“It was nothing to be so embarrassed about,” he says, he leaves some firm pats on his shoulder, but the way he hits him is laughably light, not exactly what Yixing had expected.

It might just be his paranoia speaking, but that makes him think that they must know more than he would like them to.

Even here, in such a faraway place where he expected no one to know anything about him, his past is still following him.


End file.
